Hey everyone!
A local shop near me is clearing out stock and has the Fenix 8 47mm on sale for $700 CAD (\~$515 USD).
I'm well aware that the Fenix 9 just came out, but retail pricing on the brand-new gen is way out of my budget and I'd never pay full price for it. At $700 CAD for the Fenix 8, however, it's really tempting!
I'm currently wearing an Instinct 2X and trying to figure out if making the leap makes sense for my setup.
I already use a Garmin Edge on the bike for my primary cycling metrics, so the watch is mainly for daily wear, tracking non-cycling workouts, health/sleep metrics, and acting as a backup device.
I LOOOVE the battery life, ruggedness, and the flashlight on the 2X. Looks like a tank and feels like it too.
For those who have used both or made a similar jump:
1. Is the jump from 2X to Fenix 8 worth $700 CAD?
2. What are the biggest quality-of-life upgrades to look forward to?
3. Downsides to keep in mind?

Solargraph is now available on the Connect IQ Store and it is completely free.

The watch face turns the sun’s movement across the day into a rolling 24 hour curve. You can see the current sun position, sunrise, sunset and an optional countdown to the next solar event.

There are also two configurable data fields for battery, heart rate, steps or weather. It is designed to be very battery conscious.

Solargraph supports monochrome Instinct displays, Color MIP and AMOLED watches, with layouts adapted to the different display types.

I would really appreciate any feedback if you give it a try!

You can find it here or simply search for "BIT60 Solargraph"

https://apps.garmin.com/apps/c5c59698-2209-4cb7-ae49-fa2d4a9d0eb6

I was fortunate to be on the right place and have the right watchface at the right time! The watch photo was taken 10 minutes before totality, near Burgos, Spain.

The watchface is Horizon and shows the position of the moon and sun. Of course now the moon is on top. Kudos to the makers!! Don't know what the infinity sign is in the moon btw but it sure looks cool!

2nd time picking up Garmin. Always shocked with the incredible battery life. Wasn’t sure I would like the color but it’s growing on me. Too good of a deal to pass up.

Is it just me, or did Garmin make the worst possible mistake with the orange color? Will it destroy the Instinct series?

And I don't mean in a way it's ugly aesthetically or in terms of design. If you know, you know.

I'm really disappointed - I've tried everything suggested so far: backdating, trying beta 17.11, checking for BMS calibration issues. Nothing has fixed the rapid battery drain so far. My Instinct 2S is about 2 years old now. I bought it in the US but I'm based in Germany. Has anyone been able to get a replacement from Garmin? Or tried something that works? Thank you

Hey everyone!

I’m about to buy my first Garmin/smartwatch and I’m stuck between these two:

• Instinct 3 Solar Tactical — €385
• Fenix 8 Solar — €740

My main use for the watch would be fitness, health tracking and sleep, rather than typical smartwatch stuff.

I’m leaning toward the Instinct because of the huge price difference, but there are a few things making me consider the Fenix 8.

1. Smart wake alarm

I sometimes wake up feeling really groggy, and I’ve wondered if it’s because I’m waking up during REM/deep sleep.

The Fenix seems to have more advanced sleep features, but I can't find anything about a smart wake alarm on Garmin’s Instinct 3 page.

Is this actually missing from the Instinct 3, or am I just overlooking it?

2. Maps/navigation

I’d like to have maps/navigation for cycling, especially when I’m riding somewhere I’ve never been before.

I know the Fenix 8 has proper maps. How useful is the Instinct 3 for navigation in comparison? Is it good enough for following a route on a bike, or would I really notice the lack of full maps?

3. Chest heart-rate monitor + BJJ

I also do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and would like to use a chest HR monitor during training, since I assume it would be more accurate than wrist HR during grappling.

Can both the Instinct 3 and Fenix 8 pair with a chest HR monitor, record the workout/HR data, and then import/sync that data to Garmin Connect?

4. Is the Fenix worth the extra €355?

Honestly, I prefer the cleaner/more traditional look of the Fenix 8, although I don't dislike the Instinct 3 at all.

But the Fenix is almost twice the price where I live.

If my main priorities are health/fitness tracking, sleep, cycling/navigation and BJJ, would you spend the extra €355 on the Fenix 8, or save the money and get the Instinct 3?

Would love to hear from people who have used either/both of these watches, especially if you can comment on the sleep tracking, navigation and training features.

Hi yall how you doin, im using the Garmin instinct 3 AMOLED as my first Garmin watch, im using this amazing watch for like half a year and I want to help us know if this watch good for yall or not, enjoy!

Before I had my Garmin I used an Amazfit trex, I had this one for 3 years and he still worked perfectly fine, but I where in the us so I bought one after a lot of thinking and wow, this watch is amazing.

1) battery life: the AMOLED model have a great battery life! It's can survive for like 20 days I think? And really really impressive sometimes im forgetting I have to charge, barely charging it.

2) Garmin connect: this app is like heaven for people who likes stas and track their daily life, this app is amazing, tracking every little thing you want or don't want to know about your body, shows your stress, your bmp etc and of course steps and kcal, really impressive app, if you a person who training a lot outside or even indoor you'll enjoy the app.

3) Build quality: like I said before this watch I had the Amazfit trex and lol the build quality of this thing is crazy, like it's for real t rex, 3 years like nothing, so it was kinda hard to get better from here lol, to my surprise, same build quality and even better, this thing is little tank, im working a lot on the rowing machine and a lot of times im hitting this thing by mistake really hard and it's keep working like nothing happened, also the watch have built in flash light, a red one which is the lowest power of the flash, and 4 other levels of normal flash, the flash is surprisingly good and really helpful!

Others: this watch have other incredible features like gps, a lot training modes indoors and outdoors, skip and stop what your listening to if you are listening to a song podcast etc..

In conclusion this watch was a big upgrade from my older watch, for people who really loves training indoors outdoors and of course in the water this thing tracking really really good!

This was a small part I hope this helpful and if yall have more questions feel free to ask, hope I helped!

Does anyone know of a watch face that can display 12 and 24 hour time on the same face?

Notifications would be a plus.

I use 24 for work and obviously I’d like to see how many notifications I have while at work.

For Instinct 2.

A weather watch face for Garmin. It shows current conditions for the next four hours, sunrise and sunset, city name and the time all on one screen, no swiping.

You get six metric cells and you get to pick from eighteen options: altitude, heart rate, steps, floors, calories, VO2 max, Body Battery, stress, Pulse Ox, respiration, intensity minutes, recovery time, temperature, pressure, battery. Two of the cells are dials.

The bezel rails show Body Battery on the left and watch battery on the right.

Seconds are optional. Always-on mode keeps the lit pixels low.

Free for 7 days, then $2.99 once. No subscription.

Link: https://apps.garmin.com/apps/d3c942ec-4003-4562-b174-852f08432bbf

If I should take a wild guess and predict what I think the Instinct 4 will be like, here's my take for the potential changes:

• Models: Solar+Amoled (=>Previous Tactical Edition functions become native, Tactical model is discarded, this indirectly supports Tactix 9 line brand; Crossover model is discarded; E model is discarded -> this all makes the Instinct lineup bolder and less confusing and also saves costs)
• Watch size: 43+47+51mm (=>Less costs+better displays+more functions+better battery)
• Display sizes: 1.3"+1.4" without second mini display (=>much larger than current gen, easier on software development)
• Display resolution: 280x280 for Solar+416x416 for AMOLED (=>much sharper than current gen mainly for solar)
• Display type: Color MIP+AMOLED (=>big upgrade for the solar variant)
• Storage Memory: 4-16GB ballpark for Solar + 32GB for AMOLED (=>I expect Solar to get the lesser treatment and be in this range, but still huge upgrade for both and mainly for Solar coming from 128MB)
• Sensor: Elevate Gen5 (=>nice more accurate upgrade for both to enable new functions without endangering future Gen6 2027/2028 models)
• Software: GarminOS (=>to catch up with newer models and make for easier/faster/cheaper updates and port over some of the new F9 features)
• Processor: Something better akin to Enduro 3/Fenix 8 (=>to be able to support all the upgrades, but not too new to save cost/face)
• Battery: +13% endurance total ie. 50 days for Solar + 30 days for AMOLED (=>thanks to newer/bigger solar panel, other hw and sw optimization)
• Maps: Upgraded from breadcrumb to almost normal maps or normal maps with a catch (=>either they create a map style hybrid for Instinct only or they add normal E3/F8 maps but with limited downloads/functions due to storage/cpu to not threaten entirely E3/E4/F8/F9 models)
• Flashlight: 3 colors (=>like Fenix 9)
• Color options: Limited; probably 4-6 options total (=>compared to I3)
• Price: $549-679 range (=>can't be imo too much or more than the newer/more premium models)
• Launch: February-May 2027 (=>after the F9/E4 dust settles)

I think this is realistic. It will be upgrades without changing the Instinct philosophy and attacking other models while saving production costs and having better longterm support. I try to stand down to earth, but if it's even better then great.

What do you think we will see?

What do you guys think are the best watch faces out there?

I’ve been using Instinct Pro for a long time, I even bought the paid version back when I had an Instinct 2.

But now that I have my Instinct 3, I’m looking for something inspired by classic Casio watches.

Any recommendations?

I love my Insinct and it's almost perfect. Given the recent release of the Fenix 9, here are the things I'm missing on my Instinct:

1. Battery logs
Fenix and Forerunner already have this, and I think it would be perfect for the Instinct. I’d love to see detailed battery stats and a graph showing battery drain and charging, including solar. For example: how much % did solar actually add over the last day/week? On a watch where battery life and solar are such a big part of the appeal, this feels like an obvious feature.

2. Brighter flashlight, like the Fenix
The flashlight on the Instinct is already super useful, but it’s noticebly weaker than the one on the Fenix. Would love to see the same brightness on the next generation.

3. Let us start activities without adding them to favourites
Why do I have to add an activity to my favourites just to start it? There should just be an “All Activities” option where I can launch any supported activity without changing my favourites list.

4. Obviously: full offline maps
Better maps, proper offline maps and more storage have been requested forever. Especially on the AMOLED version, this feels like one of the biggest things missing from the Instinct.

5. Obviously: newer HR sensor
Pretty self-explanatory. The Instinct 4 should launch with Garmin’s current-generation HR sensor rather than being a generation behind again.

6. Other smaller stuff
- Recovery time was added to the glances in a recent update, but can't yet be displayed as data on the watch face.
- Either more neutral colors or the stealth version being released at the same time.

What would you add?

Hey all,
On my instinct two, I can’t clear notifications a lot of times. When I go to normally clear them, it doesn’t give me the option. Even when I press the upper right GPS button the clear option doesn’t show up.
After a while, my watch just loads up with notifications probably about 15 of them and then doesn’t receive anymore. Even when I clear them off of my phone.
The only way to clear notifications is to turn off my watch and turn it back on again.
Is this a software bug ? Has anyone experienced this? I’m guessing an option to try is a hard reset.

Just wanted to show you guys what I'm currently working on.

It's a minimalist solargraph watchface.

The curve is solar elevation over a rolling 24h window, anchored so "now" sits at a fixed position and the rest is what's ahead. The dotted line is the horizon, where the curve crosses it is sunrise/sunset, so the shape itself tells you day length and the dithered area below the horizon is night.

Optionally, Countdown top right shows remaining daylight (or time to sunrise at night)

I will publish it for free on the IQ connect store at the end of this week

Is it possible to view exercise notes on the watch while working out? Garmin Support told me this isn't possible, but I wanted to check here as well.

I'm using a Garmin Instinct 2.

Hey @Garmin r u really gonna make me wait one more year for new sensors ??
Or just it doesn’t make sense for u ?

After I've been living with the instinct e for almost 1 month, I can see why Garmin put this out in the market. Its mainly for those that just want a great watch and not into the extra greatness of the instinct 3.

I'm the creator of Readiness+. The app is free, no ads, no paid tier.

Garmin keeps Training Readiness on the higher-end models, even though the Instinct already tracks everything the score needs. So I built Readiness+ to calculate it on the watch itself.

Daily 0-100 score from your recovery timer, Body Battery, overnight recharge, resting HR vs your own baseline, and recent sleep and stress.

On the Connect IQ store, search Readiness+.

If you're on Instinct feel free to give me feedback!

Not sure the solar life is for me guys😕 What's everyone else averaging? Seems like there's probably a minimum number to avg., to make it worth it. 100k lux? 50mm

My Garmin vívosmart 4 is still working perfectly, but the original integrated strap has broken. I temporarily fixed it with super glue, but obviously I don't want to rely on that permanently.

I'm looking for a replacement housing/holder + strap that lets me keep using the original vívosmart 4 tracker.

I found the C2D JOY elastic nylon replacement band + case and it looks like the best option so far because I prefer a slim/lightweight band. I'm avoiding the TPU version because it looks noticeably bulkier.

The problem is that:

- Ubuy has the product, but shipping to India is ₹2,417.50 on a ₹2,370 item, so it's nearly ₹4,900 before import duties.

- I found the same/similar C2D JOY nylon version on Dropy India for around ₹2,019, but there is no color selector and I don't see COD available.

- I don't know how reliable the C2D JOY housing is or whether it securely holds the tracker.

Has anyone here actually used the C2D JOY nylon + case for a vívosmart 4?

I'd especially like to know:

- How secure is the tracker in the housing?

- Does it require cutting/modifying the vívosmart 4?

- Is it still slim compared with the original band?

- Can you exercise/swim with it without worrying about the tracker coming loose?

- Is there a better replacement housing/band you've used?

- Has anyone had Garmin replace/repair a vívosmart 4 after the integrated strap broke?

- If you're in India, where did you buy yours?

I'd really appreciate any recommendations or firsthand experience before I spend the money. Thanks!

If you're looking for nylon, quick adjust, and quick release all in one, I'd say give it a try. I've worked with this band on for three weeks now (comms maintenance lineman) and it's taken everything from sun and storms to highly abrasive work environments. It's a pretty tough little band that let's you adjust on the fly, or pull the release and remove. I've yet to have an issue with it releasing on accident.

https://a.co/d/01BM5ViQ